HANOI, July 1 | Sun Jul 1, 2012 8:21am BST [from Reuters]:

HANOI, July 1 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Vietnamese demonstrated in Hanoi on Sunday against China's moves to strengthen its claim to disputed islands in the South China Sea and its invitation to oil firms to bid for blocks in offshore areas that Vietnam claims as its territory.

The authorities in Vietnam rarely allow public demonstrations and some bloggers said security forces had warned them against attending the rally, but the police made no attempt to disperse people, Nguyen Quang A, one of the protesters said.

"We want to raise people's awareness of China's wrongful moves recently, and we have received applause from people in the streets," he said.